My Lab Partner
by Bells of Tomorrow
Summary: A familiar voice cuts in through the wreckage. “You know eventually, Franklin’s going to think you have a personal vendetta against him.” A shared moment between Mentor and Protege.


**_A/N:_**_ I've seriously had this one-shot written for at least a month now, but for some reason, I've yet to post it. I don't really know why to be honest. I mean…it's oddly special to me, but whenever I re-read it, I felt like it wasn't good enough or something, and I always got all these doubts about it. Yet at the same time, I personally like it. Does that make any sense…? I'm not quite sure it does, but yeah…the reason I'm finally deciding to share it is because of how long the tenth chapter of "My Second Childhood," is taking me. I promise I _have_ been working on it, but life has been rather busy lately, and I haven't been able to write as much as I normally like to. Anyway, thought I'd give you guys something to read until I get it up here, so here it is. Enjoy! :)_

**_Disclaimer: _**_I own a very large nothing._

**My Lab Partner**

Dr. Cox tore through another set of test tubes, savoring the sound of shattered glass as he made his way over to the almost-broken-anyway computer. He picked it up so casually, like it was nothing, and chucked it through the nearest window. He only paused for a moment to watch the pieces fall haphazardly onto the floor, skewing in various directions.

He moved then to the outside windows, where poor excuses for blinds hung covered in months of filth and disease, 'cause God only knows when it was the last time the Janitor had actually come in here to dust. He tore them off violently, taking in the plastic pop that each hook it'd been hanging from snapped into two unidentifiable pieces.

After that were the tables. He'd ridden them of what had been on their surface, so why not finish the job? Turning his hands so that the palms lay underneath, he flipped the table over, listening intently to the loud thud that echoed in the small space he'd decided to yet again destroy.

"You know eventually," a familiar voice cut in, "Franklin's going to think you have a personal vendetta against him."

"What do you want, Patricia?"

"…To make sure you're okay."

"Oh I'm fan_tastic,_ but gee-willikers there, Oprah – if you hadn't come along to make sure I was just peachy-keen, I honestly _don't know_ what I would've done! Maybe I would've, I don't know, continued to go on about my own business and deal with it _myself._ Now I know, I know – you're a bucket full of saving grace, but tears and tissues, Princess, because I really don't have time for your pretending-to-give-a-crap lifestyle, I really don't. So if you could just do me this one t_eeny_ little favor and skip away like the good little girl you are, I'd ra-heel-ha-heel-ha-_heel­_-y appreciate it."

It's funny, Dr. Cox would later recall, that amidst all the sewage that he'd just let loose on his seemingly un-bewildered protégé, the brunette before him only seemed to pick up on one single word. "'Pretending?'"

"Aw, Newbie – don't tell me: I hurt your feelings, didn't I?" Perry went about faking sincerity as he folded his outstretched hands, giving off the appearance of someone begging. "Do ya' forgive me? Do ya'? Because if you don't, I just…I don't know how I'd manage to fall asleep tonight!"

"You know…" JD began slowly, "Whenever you get pissed off like this, I have three different ways of approaching the situation." He paused, most likely expecting the older doctor to cut him off, but Perry just swiped at his nose and crossed his arms, silently waiting for him to continue. "Way one," JD started up again, "Is to offer my help; to ask if you want to talk or something. That just seems to make you angrier, but for some reason, it's the one I'm more likely to repeat. Way two is to just let it go. You'll most likely continue to rant, but the fact that you're being allowed seems to calm you down, even if it takes a while. Way three, and this is the one that's harder for me – not to say you don't deserve it sometimes – but way three is to bite right back.

"Do you want to know something funny, Dr. Cox? On that rare occasion I choose to stick up for myself, you actually seem to calm down, at least during the moment. But it's just…it's just so weird to me. Jordan and Kelso constantly bite back, and you treat them better than I'm sure you'll ever treat me, so maybe that's it then. Maybe I should just never ask if you're okay. Hell, maybe we'll actually get along better for it."

Dr. Cox could only recall one time after seven years of knowing the kid that JD had talked uninterrupted for that long with that much…_frustration._ He'd call it frustration, because anger and Newbie just didn't go well together in his head. But that one time, that only time, up until now, had rather startled him too. That time in the cafeteria, during the kid's second year. He had freaked out on everybody, even Gandhi. It was definitely not an incident he'd forgotten.

Except last time, Perry hadn't said anything. He'd simply watched him go, wide eyed with the others. His "acceptance," of JD's rant had been to act like it never happened when next he saw him, but…but that was then. And so much had happened since. A lot of things he actually – though he'd never say it out loud – really owed the kid for. Even so…

"Calm down, Nancy. You should know not to approach a starving bear. It's just not a smart move. When the animal goes to claw you, who could blame it? Not to say that makes the beast of a thing right, but really…would it surprise you?"

Perry watched as blue eyes took in the words, a growing optimism reappearing in his features, because everybody knew what tone of voice Dr. Cox had just used was called. It was his, "I'm-sorry-but-I-really-don't-want-to-say-it-and-besides-you-really-_were-_kind-of-stupid-to-come-near-me-when-I'm-like-this-but-still," tone.

"Forgiven," JD said quietly.

Dr. Cox growled at this, but instead of diving into yet another rant, he went about picking up all the things he had just previously destroyed. Foot steps and the sound of crunching glass made him realize that Newbie was still there, helping him.

Five minutes of silence stretched by, until JD decided it was time to come clean. "Dr. Cox?"

"Yeah, Newbie, what is it?" he asked tiredly.

"I lied before. Well…half a lie, really."

Perry quirked an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? What about?"

"Remember when I said I came here to see if you were okay?"

The older man snorted. As if he'd forgotten in the past ten minutes… But wait a second…did that mean…? "You were lying about that?" he asked in what he would later realize sounded way too – God save him – _hurt_.

"No," JD answered quickly. "Not at all. I was on my way to the lab when a passing intern told me not to go in. I asked them why and they told me what was going on. When I heard I came in anyway because I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"So the lie was what then?"

"Because that wasn't the original reason I was on my way in here."

Dr. Cox stood from where he'd been picking up shards on the floor to stare curiously at his protégé. "And that reason was…?" he finally asked.

"My original reason for coming here was to destroy the lab too."

**_A/N: _**_Random, I know. At the time, I felt the very sudden need to write it down. And in case you guys are wondering, this wasn't supposed to be a mystery/cliff hanger one-shot. I just didn't want to give a specific reason for Perry and JD's anger; whatever had made them want to destroy the lab in the first place. I wanted this to be a sort of, "I'm angry, you're angry, let's be angry together," type of thing. Anyway, that's about it from me. Sorry for the complete and utter randomness. lol Until next time!_


End file.
